Name Your Chatbot: 5 Simple Steps to Give Your Bot a Name

Should you name your chatbot? 🤖

Okay. The question seems a little contradictory to the topic but here’s the answer – “Why Not?”

You probably would have named your pet (even if it’s a goldie), your favorite plant and who knows? There’d be a name for your automobile as well! So, why not name your chatbot?

On a serious note, giving a name for your chatbot can help with business growth, mostly the customer experiences part. It can create a great support experience for your customers because your chatbot name is probably the first thing they’ll notice when the chat window pops up.

Also, giving a name to your chatbot that resonates with your brand name helps uplift brand awareness. Your chatbot gets a personality to it and is more approachable when it has a name.

We have named our chatbot SimplyBot keeping in mind our brand name Simplify360. It’s easy to remember and promotes our brand at the same time.

Coming up with a good name for your chatbot (memorable, striking, attractive) will have a great influence on their experience.

In this article, we’ll discuss why you should name your chatbot, how you can come up with a super cool bot name and maybe we can even pick a name for your bot from 50 chatbot name ideas below.

So, that’s the gist of the read. It’s time we start.

Why Should You Name Your Chatbot?

Let’s start with an example.

Assume there are two chatbots in front of you. One with the name “Customer Support Bot” and the other chatbot is named “Alicia”. Which one would you end up conversing with?

Answer – Second one (obviously). Let’s go back a minute and assess what just happened.

Once when you were done reading the question, you wouldn’t have given it much of a thought. You would have automatically chosen the chatbot “Alicia”. That’s the instant connection and experience we are talking about.

Alicia is a human name given to a chatbot. Subconsciously, you are driven to choose the second chatbot rather than the first one. Because the first chatbot doesn’t have a personality to it and the name itself sounds awkward.

You get the idea, right? Anyways, here are a couple of reasons why you should name your chatbot.

1. A Name Makes the Chatbot More Approachable

This is exactly what we were talking about in the example we mentioned above. Coming up with a name for your bot makes the pre-programmed software more approachable for your customers. Like we asked before, “Customer Support Bot” or “Alicia”? Also, not all customers would feel comfortable interacting with a chatbot, knowing that it’s only a bot. But naming your bot can reduce this factor to a certain extent.

2. Naming Your Bot Can Create Connections

By saying connections, we mean a bond. We all know how important names are and how naming something, be it a pet or something else creates a bond. Similarly, coming up with a good name for your bot will help drive an instant connection with your customers.

And your bot, on the other hand, feels happy that it has a name (we’re just thinking out loud 😉)

3. A Name Gives Your Chatbot a Unique Personality

When you come up with a name for your chatbot, it gives them a unique personality. You just have to make sure what the functionality of your chatbot is and whether the chatbot name resonates with the functionality. Also, with the rate at which chatbots are advancing today, it’s only fair to give them a name – a name that’s easy to remember and captivating at the same time.

5 Steps to Come Up With a Name for Your Chatbot

Now that you know why naming your bot is important, let’s look at the ways that’ll help you go through the process.

1. Knowing Your Bot and Defining the Purpose

The first step in naming your bot is listing the chatbot functions. Simply said, it is identifying the function of the bot.

Ask yourself why you need a bot in the first place and what its purpose is going to be. Whether you’re going to use the chatbot for support or marketing purposes or scheduling appointments. This pretty much helps you get a vague idea of what chatbot name you can come up with.

For instance, if a chatbot is more towards customer support, giving it a human name would make sense. If it’s a bot that focuses on scheduling appointments, you can consider coming up with chatbot names like “Scheduly”. You can even consider using your brand name for ideas – a name that resonates with your brand.

Knowing the functionalities and the purpose can help get started in the process of naming your chatbot.

2. Decide on Tone, Gender and Avatar

Words are powerful. But pictures are more powerful. And putting them together is an even more powerful combination. Decide on the tone of the bot (whether it’s going to be formal, friendly, or conversational), the gender and the avatar of the bot.

It’s about giving your bot a strong personality that would deliver a better experience for your customers.

3. Robot Bot? Or a Human Bot?

Some like to interact with a chatbot. Whereas others hate the idea of having a conversation with a chatbot no matter how good the chatbot’s name and personality is. But giving it a human name can reduce the friction and make your bot more approachable.

Note: Make sure your users know that they are talking with a chatbot.

However, if you want to show your users explicitly that they are chatting with a bot, consider coming up with a bot name. If you want to be more humane and deliver an empathetic experience, use a human name for your bot.

P.S. A study states that approximately 36% of customers prefer female bots.

4. Narrow Down Chatbot Name Ideas

By now, you would have figured out the purpose of your bot, its personality (tone, gender, avatar) and whether it’s going to be a robot bot or a human bot.

Based on that, start to come up with chatbot names. You can look at what your competitors have named their bots, conduct an internal team activity for new chatbot name ideas, use the chatbot name ideas list we have created, or even use a chatbot name generator.

Create a list that includes all bot name ideas you like. Now, to the next step.

5. Think of a “Story Behind” the Bot Name

Sometimes, this works. Sometimes it does not.

But even if there’s a tiny chance you can come up with a compelling backstory for your chatbot name, it resonates with your brand and audience on a different level. This can even help you come up with tailored scripts for the bot.

From the narrowed list, see to which particular name you can narrate a backstory. And that one is going to be the name of your chatbot.

So, that’s how you give a name for your bot!

Wait. That ain’t it! Here are some tips that’ll help you make the overall “naming your bot” process super easy.

Tips to Remember While You Name Your Chatbot

1. Keep it Short. Bare Minimum

Remember that you’re not working on a new definition for some tech term. You are thinking of a chatbot name. And coming up with short names is the way to go. One or two words should do the job.

2. Light. Simple. Plain

Those three words mean the same. But that’s how much we want to stress on this point. Your bot name should be easy to remember and pronounce. Only then your website visitors will find your bot more approachable and there’s going to be a connection created.

3. Try To Be Creative

Normal is fine. It works and does a decent job. But creativity is what stands out and makes a real difference. When choosing a name for the bot, make sure it’s a tad creative.

4. Know When to Stop

We did want to mention this. Just because you want to be creative don’t go to the extent of naming the bot something weird. Remember the points we mentioned about being short and simple. Come up with a bot name accordingly.

5. Don’t Push Yourself Too Hard

You don’t have to stress yourself out. Yes. Naming your bot is quite the task but it becomes easy when you keep these things in mind,

  • The name should be easy and simple to remember & pronounce, hence short
  • The name should resonate with your brand (if it’s a human name, it probably doesn’t have to)
  • The name should be a tad creative and something your target audience might like

When you remember these pointers, the overall process might not be overwhelming. That said, let’s look get to the part where we’ve handpicked a couple of chatbot name ideas for you!

50 Chatbot Name Ideas

Catchy & Creative Chatbot Names

  1. Insighter
  2. Pulser
  3. Light
  4. Samurai
  5. Sparkles
  6. Purple
  7. Omega
  8. 007
  9. Sunshine
  10. Genie Bot
  11. Mr. Chatbot
  12. Kaizen
  13. Zeus
  14. Cindy the Bot
  15. Cosmos
  16. Titan
  17. Knight
  18. Romeo
  19. Sheldon
  20. Maverick
  21. Thunder
  22. Theta
  23. Blossom
  24. Buttercup
  25. Thinktank
  26. Juno
  27. Pluto
  28. Amigo
  29. Yanna
  30. Candy

Human Chatbot Names

  1. Rose
  2. Ashley
  3. Pepper
  4. Zoe
  5. Aurora
  6. Abby
  7. Jake
  8. Oliver
  9. Elsa
  10. Bella

Cool Chatbot Names

  1. Marq
  2. Lionheart
  3. Nightingale
  4. Primavera
  5. Sonic
  6. Aspen
  7. Primo
  8. Nella
  9. Maxy
  10. Chuck Bot

Those were the 50 chatbot names we handpicked for you. If you’re picking one from the above list or you would want us to add more, feel free to hit the suggestion box!

Final Few Words

So far in this article, we’ve covered,

  • The reasons why you should name your bot
  • The steps you should follow to give a good name for your chatbot
  • Tips to remember while naming the chatbot
  • 50 cool chatbot names

This is all great. But here’s the most important thing – make sure your chatbot works! Most businesses stay focused on how their chatbot looks and forget about the functionality, making the chatbot sloppy and non-responsive.

You must make sure your bot is fully-functional and serves the purpose on point – immediate responses and the ability to understand human queries. Choosing the best chatbot software can help you save a great deal of time and effort. You can set your support or lead generation on autopilot and take care of other important matters.

Since you’re reading this, we thought you might find these chatbot-related articles useful,

👉 9 Common Chatbot Mistakes That Are Making You Lose Customers
👉 Chatbot Fails – 5 Reasons Why Chatbots Fail and How to Avoid Them
👉 9 Chatbot Best Practices You Should Be Following In 2022

So, that’s pretty much it. Now that you know how to name your chatbot, go give your bot the perfect name it deserves! Also, let us know what it is that you choose!